Peter Arrell Browne Widener (1834-1915)

He was one of America's most prolific collectors and connoisseurs of fine art, building Lynnewood Hall to house his vast collection. Having started life as a butcher's apprentice, Widener's fortune began when he won a $50,000 government contract to supply meat to the Union Army around Philadelphia during the Civil War. This enabled him to become a founding partner of the Philadelphia Traction Company that built public transport systems in Philadelphia, New York and Chicago. Growing on that success, he became a principal partner in U.S. Steel and the American Tobacco Company, with substantial holdings in Standard Oil too. He accrued a fortune of $100 million that placed him alongside the Astors and the Vanderbilts. Today, he is recognized as one of the 100 wealthiest Americans to have ever lived, and though a "robber baron," his passion for art made him a significant philanthropist. Despite his fortune, he died broken-hearted after his son and grandson were killed on the Titanic.